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Monday, 29 May 2017

Published by Orenda Books on 30th May 2017. My thanks to the publisher and Anne Cater for inviting me on to the blog tour.

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker
returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he
testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile,
fifteen years earlier.

It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South
African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to
topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his
best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that
threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices
that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting
accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself
labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the
dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge
unscathed.

Exploring true events from one of the most hateful chapters in South African history,
Reconciliation for the Dead is a shocking, explosive and gripping thriller from one
finest writers in contemporary crime fiction.

My Thoughts:This is the first book that I have read by this author, not really sure why I haven't read the others now. The previous two books are The Abrupt Physics of Dying and The Evolution of Fear. This book is a prequel and I did not feel at a disadvantage by not having read the previous two books first. Reconciliation for the Dead takes us back in time as Claymore Straker recounts the events that led to his dishonourable discharge. He testifies to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Ensues is a gripping read about a subject that I didn't know much about - The Cold War and the Apartheid Regime. Claymore Straker is one of the most fascinating characters that I have come across in recent times. A balance of good and bad. In fact there are lots of amazingly drawn characters that build up the scene of this magnificent novel.Steeped in atmosphere, the authors writing style is evocative and transports the reader right into the action. The arid landscapes, the dust and the horror. Power and greed being major parts of the struggle, this book was quite disturbing at times and horrifying but my goodness it is powerful. Scenes of torture and brutality were upsetting but necessary in the telling of events that were very real and that happened in our lifetimes. Wonderfully researched, the superb prose just rolled off the page. A wonderful reminder that we should always try to do the right thing. I could not recommend this book more. Now off to get the other two books in the series, so I can find out more about Claymore Straker. This series has well and truly captured my imagination.

About the Author:

Canadian Paul Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer,
hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas,
explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was
befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in
Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last
flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993
he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a, and was one of the last Westerners out of
Yemen before the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. Paul is a university professor and
Director of Australia’s national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaptation research
programmes. He is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer,
and lives in Western Australia.

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About Me

A long term love affair with books started when I was a small child. It started with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and has moved on since then. To me a book will always be made of paper. Reading a book is an experience, the smell of the book, the feel of it and the wonderful places and things that you can experience between those pages.